The present invention concerns improvements to passive exercise therapy devices for patients, which can move a limb (or limbs) or body part of a patient through a prescribed range of motion without stress to the patient's limb or associated joints. This invention is an improvement to the type of passive therapy exercise apparatus that is disclosed in Klossner U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,605.
In this type of apparatus a patient is positioned on a bed or similar resting place, and reciprocating cable or cables are attached to a harness or brace worn on the patient's arm, leg, wrist, knee, etc., to lift and lower that body part. The apparatus is worked so as to produce a controlled, rhythmic, repetitive relative motion of the cable in respect to the bed so that the patient's limb is moved through the prescribed range of motion.
The device or apparatus that is described in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,605 is, unfortunately, quite cumbersome and has several drawbacks. That apparatus requires lifting the patient up to a bed that is elevated at a significant height above the floor of the room. Also, the apparatus requires rocking the bed and patient back and forth while holding the cable(s) fixed on the apparatus frame. This rocking motion can cause discomfort and nausea in some patients.